what the fuck is "gruv"

Bowser breaks through the wall of the princess room into the warp room full of bloobers in World 8-4 and finds rows and rows of dessicated Mario corpses

Having made one of those top 30 listicles in the past made this one a whole lot easier to filter lmfao

So I'm very obviously late to discovering this concept for the first time, but it TURNS OUT that commissioning an artist whose style you love is an intensely fulfilling experience. who would have thunk
(my #DragonAge #Veilguard Crow-origin #Rook with Lace Harding by @kumoart.bsky.social )

Anyway in the hope that the Dragon Age community moves past their shitshow, I've been percolating stream of consciousness about my favorite elements in Veilguard's narrative/design in a more singular write-up. It's been fun trying to properly shake the dust off that media critique corner of my brain

I'm not going to pretend the narrative in Dragon Age is flawless (imo it's ironically awkward the end of Taash's arc is funnelled into the same binary structure as other companions), but I've watched usually-intelligent people dismiss an incredibly deliberately crafted personality as Le bAd wRiTiNg

#veilguardspoilers
Nowhere near an authoritative opinion but intrusive 1am shower thoughts got me angry wrt the condescending "if you try inclusivity for everyone you serve no-one" horseshit
*It's not writing for everyone*. Idiots just can't find empathy for those they're specifically writing for

Like, the kids these days say shit like "mentally I'm still here" all the time but maybe they're onto something. Thanks a gazillion BioWare 💀💀💀

An analogy stuck in my head during The Discourse, is that a painting painted by predominantly primary colours isn't necessarily less complex.
To me, BioWare RPGs never had to be high literature to be meaningful. In fact, I think its most beautiful themes are expressed in the simplest conversations.

A tremendous game to roll credits for.
For all the myriad of unfulfilled wishes and complaints that show up on Twitter, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is BioWare firing on every possible cylinder. An incredible marriage of cinematic ambitions and intimate emotional sincerity.
Fucking bravo

Maybe a damning indictment of my gaming habits that I already created a second character on the bench for smooching Taash in Dragon Age Veilguard

I think the Veilguard one is nominally more granular wrt face/head morphing but the DD2 one has a much more powerful set of options for body related adjustments.
It's kind of a shame that they seem to have pared a lot of those options back for Monster Hunter though

(Also - qunari Crows gang gang!)

Sasuga muskrat